The one that got away

[Eric]

I'm sitting here at work waiting for a customer to come in.
So I thought it would be kinda fun to hear how you guys got started collecting... what made you buy that first machine and why.

OR looking back what Deals did you pass on that you now would jump on in a heart beat.

I'll start with one... about 10 years ago... my wife and I were at a antique store
in Eureka Missouri and in a back room was a Vendo 56 RT... the coin door had been pried open at one time leaving a mean dent... the price was $400.... I thought that was crazy for such a short machine with such a bad dent (paint was excellent other than the damage to the door)
I also saved a square top 7up machine when I was in college
my employer was throwing out this little machine cause it didn't get cold anymore. So as I started to set it by
the dumpster... I asked if I could have it... he said sure. So I
took it over to a friends house where we put it in his kitchen.
Well when school started back up I left it there. Where I came home for Christmas break. I found that he had moved and left it at the house! GONE!!!!!!! My first machine gone!

Anyone else?......

Eric

[MoonDawg]

Was visiting with friends in San Diego about 25 yrs ago and noticed a cute VMC 33 Coca Cola machine sitting neglected in the rear balcony of a small apartment overlooking the ocean.
      The lady said her ex-husband saved it from an old service station he was demolishing, and was gonna' restore it.
      She said he's gone but left behind this old machine, and I have no room for it.  He wants $50.00 for it.  I thought "why would anyone want to buy an old Coke machine"?  So I returned home 4 hours away.
      For some reason, I could not get over that cute little machine. A few weeks later I drove back, hoping she hadn't sold it. I told her I was ready to buy it. She said she had to call the ex. first.  I stood at the front door while her call to him seemed like an hour.
      Well she came back and said " He won't sell for less than $75.00 now". (They didn't know they could have got $200.00+ from me by that time).
       I have an Auto related buisness and set this machine up for use for employees. Later found some decals for it, so we sanded and painted it. Moved it to the front area where the customer could buy a Coke for a dime.
       Not only did it build customer confidence, but had so many people want to buy it. I then realized there was demand that was not being met, and was more than happy to branch into restorations as well.  Thus the name Ideal Sunroof & Soda

[joesquid]

For me it was a sign from God (bring up choir music, floating angels, and light fron heaven) '>
Two years ago, my wife and my church's Associate Pastor were talking one day about stuff people collect.  His whole office is ceiling-to-floor Flinstone's memorabilia.  One tends to forget one is in church after walking into his office.  Anyway, Erin happened to mention that I collect coke stuff.  He then asked if I might be interested in an old coke machine by the church gym that hadn't been used in over two years.  She asked how much and he said, "whatever it costs you to move it."  She was on the phone with me in about 20 seconds.  That weekend I was enjoying ice-cold cokes out of my FREE coke machine.  That was when the bug bit me and I haven't looked back!  Anytime Erin starts complaining about my machines, I simply remind her who got me started!!

[BryanH]

The seed:  A buddy in university used an old slant shelf as his dorm fridge. Can't remember if it was round top or square top, just remember that it was 'cooler' than my 1950's neon pink (long story) fridge.  

The trigger: Moved to AZ a few years ago and lost my basement and with it my woodworking shop.  Needed a hobby that I could pursue in the garage without a large footprint for tools and one that would/should let me recoup my expenses as I go...

[sodaworks]

I got the bug back in 97. My mother in law has been collecting Pepsi-Cola for twenty-plus years. That's all they ever drink, I believe my wife probably had pepsi in her baby bottle but that's another story. So just to agrevate my mother in law I started collecting pre-60's coke stuff. I had returned from the Pomona swap meet where I seen a few restored machines and decided if I could just find one round top I would be content. My first machine was a vmc33 that I bought for 300.00 bucks, it was complete and straight but was painted with a paint roller and looked bad. My in-laws came over as we rolled the machine into the garage. My father in law who builds Harleys took a long look at the 33 and asked what I paid for it and what was I going to do with it! I proudly told him the price and that I was going to restore the machine and put it in my dining room. My in laws stared at me like I was crazy and he basically told me I was foolish for blowing that kind of money on "junk". Approx. 3-4 weeks later we had them over for dinner and the 33 was completly restored and sitting in the dinining room. The inlaws couldn't take their eyes off of the machine. My father in law swore up and down that it was impossible that this was the same machine that he had previously viewed unstored in the garage. He even went out into the garage to make sure that the ugly machine wasn't out there. Before they left that night my father in law told me that he had no idea that I could do that kind of restoration work and he strongly suggested that I should do plenty more of it. It just kinda took off from there. I did sell the 33 to a friend but I do plan on getting it back here in the near future. It is still in mint condition.

[loman4ec]

As a young kid my father and I restored a few Coke machines but mostly 1955 -1957 chevrolets and a few others. We stoped this hobby when my mother nicknamed our last car, a 1957 chevy 2 door hardtop, the divorce mobile. Well I went away to college in florida but I came home each year for summer. Before returning to school for my junior year I told my father that I thought it would be neet to have an old machine to vend beer out of. My Dad thought it was a great idea. So he called a good friend of the family that restores alot of machines and who is honestly responsible for my Coke machine habbit, to see if he had any inexpensive machines that needed work. He had a Cornelius compact 50 sitting outside that worked and he said I could have it. I was so excited to get working on it. It was missing the rack and coin mech but it was perfict for me. I did some light body work to it and spray painted it white with a red top and had some budweiser vinly decals made for it. For a spray paint job it looked great. We used it for a while but I continued to watch ebay for a machine that would vend. I later came across a Cav USS-64 local to me so I bid and won it for $160. I had the piant done on that machine and used it for a while but then needed the money so I sold both machines for a really good profit. At that time the bug had bit me and I was hooked. It is now 2 years and 47 machines later.

[dr galaga]

As a kid I always thought that it would be cool to own arcade video games, pinball machines and pop machines.  When I was a freshman in high school (early 80's) our high school radio station had a beat up Westinghouse Coke machine.  Some kids beat the heck out of it and it was in a frat house before that.  It had vending problems and Pepsi was tired of coming out to fix it so they moved a big Pepsi machine in it's place and didn't want the Coke one (the school had a contract with Pepsi).  They tried selling it and after a few weeks I told the teacher that I may be able to give him $20 for it (I think they wanted $50).  He told me I could have it for free if I got it out of there by the weekend!  My mom put up a little of a fight but I was able to convince her to let me put it in her station wagon.  It is a WB102-B4-D, but looks like this - but not as wide: http://soda-machines.com/machines/westh/wc174_4.html .  It's still sitting outside of my parents place.  The ones that got away would be my Cavalier 64 and Westinghouse MD.  In a series of a month I picked up 3 machines and had two of them on display at a pizzeria that I was a manager at.  When I quit I took the machines with me and my parents were very upset about the four "Coke Machines" that were at their house (I argued with them and told them that there are only 3 - one's a Pepsi machine!).  If I didn't get rid of half the machines and a jukebox they were calling their scrap dealer to take everything (he does free pick ups)!  Needless to say the only ones I could sell were the nicer ones.

[jasmine64]

I found mine in our church.  It was missing the key and hadnt run in many years.
I found a key on ebay that actually fit and later bought the machine.

My 2nd machine I found sitting on my salvage guys porch. It sat there for at least
3 years before I broke down and bought it.

The Cavalier found me more or less, went into a shop to buy a garden fountain,
(one of those massive 5 ft concrete ones), and the guy mentioned he had a Coke machine,
well there sat my next project. He needed the room and I wanted something different to tinker with.

My husband cant understand why I want these machines when my wedding cake and candy making business keeps me busy.

My others came from ads.

My first machine was one that had been sitting in my dad's meat cutting store for as long as I can remember.  I have always been a sucker for anything that is vintage.  When he finally closed up shop earlier this year I convinced him into letting me "store it" and fix it up.  Right now it is almost all tore apart and ready to begin prepping for paint and the rebuild.

The second machine came when a coworker found it on a 4x4 forum that he is a member of.  I am currently getting it ready to take into work.  

I have several others that I have had to pass on from ads when the seller thinks that the machine they have is one of a kind and worth its weight in gold.  The ad is still running though and I am always looking for something new.  

[90grad]

I was in Vegas back in '99 and went to the Coke museum that used to be there (closed a little later).  They had a restored 39 and some chests there.  I was instantly hooked.  I started doing reading when I got home and looked for machines casually.  I found this sight a few years ago, picked up a Standard Ice cooler a few years ago, and decided to get serious this year about machines.

I've not really had the big "one that got away" story.  I have two "why won't you sell me the machine" stories.  One is my co-worker's father-in-law, who has a decent Westinghouse Master electric sitting in his garage collecting dust.  It's been there for 5 years and will sit there until it rots in the ground.  He's the type of guy who thinks its worth a gazillion dollars.  The other, and MOST frustrating, case concerns a 110 not 8 miles FROM MY HOUSE!!!  It's in a hardware store.  Actually, it's in a storage barn in back.  I spoke with the owner and the machine was his dad's.  It's been in the barn for 20+ years doing nothing.  It was buried under rags, boxes, and other stuff.  The exterior is in decent shape, just a little surface rust.  I couldn't see the interior.  The guy said the famous line, "I'll probably get it out one day and mess with it."  I know it will be there forever.  He said since it was his dad's he doesn't want to get rid of it.  I respect that, trust me, but are you "honoring" his memory by throwing the machine in the warehouse, under the steps, covered with stuff for all those years with no real intention of doing anything with it?  '>  '>  '>